Listed below are the most likely reasons behind each street name in the city, though some of the street names have changed through time and some of the original reasoning for certain names have been lost entirely. Many of these street names did not appear in Gerry Joyce’s ‘Limerick City Street Names‘.
Where possible a photograph of the street has been added as well as the street on the 1911 census.
Streets beginning with:
A : B : C : D : E : F : G : H : I : J : K : L : M : N : O : P : Q : R : S : T : U : V : W : X : Y : Z :
Quay Lane: (now Bridge Street), because it led to Quay Gate.
Quarry Road: so named because it led to the quarry in Thomondgate, this is the quarry where the death of Susan Walters took place. Photograph of Quarry Road
Queen Street (part 2), (now Davis Street) Back Queen Street: named after Queen Victoria.
Quimper Street and Quimper Square: pronounced Campere, named after our twin city in Brittany, France. The cities were twinned in 1981. These are located in the centre of the Cruise’s Street development.
Quin Street: (formerly Alphonsus Avenue), named after the O’Gorman Quin family, who contributed greatly towards the construction of the Redemptorist Church Tower. A member of that family, Sir Stephen Quin was Mayor of Limerick in 1916 and 1917.
Quinlan Street, (part 2): located between the Crescent and O’Connell Avenue is one of the shortest main streets in Ireland, having a length at its centre of eighty-five feet, one side of the street being longer than the other. It was named after Thomas Quinlan, who constructed two houses facing this street, known as numbers 1 and 2 Quinlan Street According to the old leases, it was originally part of George’s (now O’Connell) Street. The houses which stand on this street today were built c.1890.
Quins Cottages: were possibly named after Sir Stephen Quin, who was Mayor of Limerick in 1916 and 1917. However, this could be disputed as the foundation stone was laid in 1913 by the then Mayor, Philip O’Donovan.
Quinn’s Lane: named after Fr. Quinn, a former Parish Priest of St. John’s Cathedral.